diff --git a/django/urls/resolvers.py b/django/urls/resolvers.py
index 674fd0c58e..6e7bd44dbc 100644
--- a/django/urls/resolvers.py
+++ b/django/urls/resolvers.py
@@ -620,8 +620,22 @@ class URLResolver:
 
     @cached_property
     def url_patterns(self):
-        # urlconf_module might be a valid set of patterns, so we default to it
-        patterns = getattr(self.urlconf_module, "urlpatterns", self.urlconf_module)
+        patterns = getattr(self.urlconf_module, "urlpatterns", None)
+        if patterns is None:
+            # Check for common misspellings
+            common_misspellings = ['urlspattern', 'urlpattern', 'urlpatterns']
+            for misspelling in common_misspellings:
+                if hasattr(self.urlconf_module, misspelling):
+                    raise ImproperlyConfigured(
+                        f"The included URLconf '{self.urlconf_name}' has a misspelling. "
+                        f"Did you mean 'urlpatterns' instead of '{misspelling}'?"
+                    )
+            # Original error message
+            raise ImproperlyConfigured(
+                f"The included URLconf '{self.urlconf_name}' does not appear to have any "
+                f"patterns in it. If you see valid patterns in the file then the issue is "
+                f"probably caused by a circular import."
+            )
         try:
             iter(patterns)
         except TypeError as e:
diff --git a/django/urls/test_urls.py b/django/urls/test_urls.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dd93cb6e9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django/urls/test_urls.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+
+from django.urls import path
+
+def test_view(request):
+    pass
+
+urlspattern = [
+    path('test/', test_view, name='test'),
+]
diff --git a/tests/i18n/sampleproject/sampleproject/settings.py b/tests/i18n/sampleproject/sampleproject/settings.py
index e69de29bb2..7fe29d77fb 100644
--- a/tests/i18n/sampleproject/sampleproject/settings.py
+++ b/tests/i18n/sampleproject/sampleproject/settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
+DEBUG = True
+
+ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
+
+# Application definition
+
+INSTALLED_APPS = [
+    # ... other installed applications ...
+]
+
+MIDDLEWARE = [
+    # ... middleware classes ...
+]
+
+# URL Configuration
+ROOT_URLCONF = 'django.urls.test_urls'
